"The automotive industry is being disrupted by technology and Volvo Cars chooses to be an active part of that disruption", the post quotes Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive at Volvo as saying.

The agreement marks a bold step forward for Uber, both for its autonomous program and its overall operational strategy.

The cars, in theory, would be available through the Uber app to pick up passengers - without a driver. Uber then plans to add its own driverless technology and unleash a fleet of robo-taxis onto the world. Uber previously launched a self-driving Uber service in San Francisco in December 2016 but was pulled shortly after because the company failed to properly register the 16 vehicles.

Ford announced earlier this year it is working with Uber rival Lyft on a driverless auto trial programme, while Chrysler is supplying Pacific hybrids to Google's self-driving arm Waymo for its self-driving taxis trial. Although those cars are self-driving, they still have an engineer present behind the wheel, ready to take control. Uber's US$70 billion valuation already puts the group nearly on a par with Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler.